Robbery prevention apparatus



ROBBERY PREVENTION APPARATUS Filed Sept. 20, 1932 i L y ATTORNEYS Patented Mar. 10, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE I I 2,033,694 ROBBERY PREVENTION APPARATUS Glen RrEldred, Cleveland, Ohio Applications eptember 20, 1932, Serial No. 634,010 irciaims. (o1. --1.01)

This invention relates to a devicefor prefventihgxrobberies and the like, and is particular- 1y applica le to use by banks and other institutioils which have vaults. or similar spaces, for thief storage of ifaliiajbles. V I 7 Banks and other concerns which keep large ante ants. or. cash and other valuable articles of codr e have been'provided with vaults or storage spa es having protecting walls and doors, so that access to the valuables is diflicult. They also are equipped with various alarm systems "and the like and generally with armed guards, and other precautionsagainst' theft of the valuables are taken; I a

With a vault of good construction and'suitable =doors-and locks, the breaking. into the storage spaceis'diili'cult,v hence burglary of such vaults is infrequent. It; will be noted that recently when a banks ,funds have been stolen,

- this has been. done by" robbery during business hours, therobbers entering the bank and intimidatingthe, occu ants, While they remove from the. vault-such things. as they'desire.

O'fcourse, whenoneof'tiie employees of a bank is confronted with an, armed robber, he is not inclined to actuate alarms (Jr-do anything else which'he feels, will precipitate unpleasant resultsupon-himself; j

If,.however, the bank could the provided with means which would insn'rethe' removal 1 of at least" one of its employees beyond the. range of the. robbers weapons, ftnis' employee would be free to operate .alannsfland the, like; tore: lease incapacitatingiigas; to-"lockiall means of egress from the bank, or ,in' other manners to set into motioninstrumentalitiesjfor capture of therobbersa It is an object of thepresent invention to provide an improvedapparatus which'will insure the placing of. at" least one memberfof' the personnel of 'the'concern, using" it in a safe place from which .he' can actuate any 'alarm ,or other protective devices with' which thebuildin'g is qu pp df v Another object is to provide a device for protecting. one person, which maybe mounted in a-doorway, as for instance that leading to'the vault or'to onechamber of'th'e vault. j

Another object of the invention is to provide avault with at protecting. device which may be mounted in] the doorway but which .may be moved so that it will not obstruct. this .doorway. Otherobjects will hereinafter appear. 7 I

The 1 invention? will "be better understood from the description of one practical" embodiment thereof illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan View of a more or less typical bank vault;

Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line II II of Figure 1,; and

, Figures 3, 4 and 5 are sectional views taken on the line ,III-]II of Figure 2 showing the parts in difierent positions which they occupy outer wall provides access to the outer chamber '7 A, this being the chamber in which are generally locatedsafety deposit boxes 4 or the like.

Through the partition 2 is a doorway surrounded by a frame 5' in which is mounted a door provided with a revolving cylindrical shell 6 which will permit the passageof, one person only to the inner chamber. V

The door itself consists of a rectangularframe .1 pivoted by hinges 8 to oneside of the jam, so .thatitmay swing from the position it is shown in .fulllines of Figure 1 to the'position shown in the dotted lines of this figure.

A look 9, operable from the interior of the inner chamber is indicated for holding the door inthe position in which it fills the doorway, this look conveniently being a combination device placed on the inner side of either the frame or the door itself. Rigidly secured to the door frame arearcuate wings lil joined to a generally circular top H, and suspended within these wings as upon rollers or bearings I2 is the parti-cylindrical shell 6, mounted to revolve about a central vertical axis and fitting closely within the wings. A hand rail I3 is attached to the shell. for convenience in rotating it. 7

Within the shell, two vertical plates 14 are positioned, these being connected to the door frame by brackets l5 and screws I6 so that they may be adjusted toward and from each other to fit the space between them to the individuals who are to use the apparatus.

Each pair of wings, it will be noted, is over '90 degrees in extent, and the shell extends for over l 270 degrees, so thatthe opening of the shell "may "be caused to register with either the inner or outer openings between the edges of the pairs of wings or may be completely covered by either pair of wings.

Supported within the shell, at some point where it is not conspicuous but may readily be reached by a person within this shell, is a lock I! by which the shell may be locked against rotation with its opening either covered by the wings or facing chamber B and is also means for actuating such protective devices as signals, gas, locks, etc., the latter being shown as a plurality of switches I8 mounted upon one of the vertical plates l4.

Gun ports 19, if desired, may be formed through the door on either side of the wings. The door itself including the wings and shell is made of bullet-proof material, and it is preferable that the entire partition 2, including such gratings as are provided for ventilation, be bullet-proof.

The operation of the device is as follows:

Upon installation, the plates are adjusted so that there will just be room for any one of the bank personnel to pass between them, the diameter of the shell being so small that two persons cannot get within it. In the morning, when it is desired to bring the trays from the vault to the tellers cages, one member of the banks personnel enters this shell and rotates it 180 degrees, which permits him to enter the inner chamber; he then opens the door 1 by releasing the lock 9, and swings the door to its dotted line position. The tellers can now pass through the doorway and bring their trays out; after which, and before the bank is opened to the public, the door is closed and locked in place.

If, now, robbers enter the bank and desire to get into the vault, they are confronted with the necessity of passing through the vestibule formed by the shell one at a time. As the robbers are unfamiliar with the storage of articles within the vaults, and as these are largely stored in locked containers, it becomes necessary that one of the bank's personnel be taken into the inner chamber.

If this member of the bank's personnel be sent through the vestibule first, he passes clear through to the inner chamber, locks the shell in a position to block the entrance, and is then free to operate all the alarms that he desires, to shoot through the gun ports, and so on. If, to prevent this, one of the robbers passes through the vestibule first and another sends one of the banks personnel after him, this member of the banks personnel rotates the shell only 90 degrees and locks it in a position in which it covers both the entrance and exit, so that he is safe from the robber on the interior as well as from those on the exterior, and operates his alarms and devices by means of the buttons l8 or the like within the shell.

While the apparatus is primarily intended to prevent the robbery of the vault during the time when the institution is open for business, it will be apparent that by locking the shell, it will materially assist in rendering the entering of the vault diflicult and thus also serve as a protection against burglary.

While I have described the illustrated embodiment of my invention in some particularity, obviously many others will readily occur to those skilled in this art, and I do not, therefore, limit myself to the precise details shown and described but claim as my invention all embodiments, variations, and modifications thereof coming within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In combination with a partition having a doorway therethrough,, a door selectively movable to close said doorway or to clear the same, said door having projecting wings forming a vestibule, a parti-cylindrical closure supported for rotation between said wings and having an opening on one side only and movable to either entrance oi the vestibule, the wings on the door being sufllcient in extent to completely cover said opening.

2. In combination with a partition having a doorway therethrough, a. door selectively movable to close said doorway or to clear the same, said door having projecting wings forming a vestibule, a parti-cylindrical closure supported for rotation between said wings having an opening on one side only and movable to either entrance of the vestibule, the wings on the door being sufllcient in extent to completely cover saidopening, and walls supported by the door within the closure limiting the passage space within the vestibule.

3. In combination with a partition having a doorway therethrough, a door selectively movable to close said doorway or to clear the same, said door having projecting wings forming a vestibule, a parti-cylindrical closure supported for rotation between said wings having an opening on one side only and movable to either entrance of the vestibule, the wings on the door being suflicient in extent ,to completely cover said opening, and walls adjustably supported by the door within the closure limiting the passage space within the vestibule.

4. In combination with a partition having a doorway therethrough, a door hinged adjacent one side of the doorway, a lock retaining the door in doorway closing position, the central portion of the door being apertured and provided with arcuate wings, a parti-cylind'rical shell arranged to rotate about a vertical axis and closely fitting within the wings, means for rotating said shell, a pair of vertical plates extending transversely of the door within the shell and adjustably attached to the door, and locking means for locking the shell in position in which its opening is covered by one of said wings. 5. In combination with a wall having a doorway therethrough, a door movable from a position filling said doorway to a position where its projection on the wall clears the doorway, the door having a vestibule the interior of which is of suflicient extent to accommodate one person only and having openings at each end, and closure means for said openings arranged to always close at least one of said openings.

6. In combination with a wall having a doorway therethrough, a door movable from a position filling said doorway to a position where its projection on the wall clears the doorway, the door having a vestibule the interior of which is of suflicient extent to accommodate one person only and having openings at each end, and closure means for said openings arranged to always close at least one of said openings, the vestibule projecting substantially equal distances to both sides of the doorway.

'7. In combination with a wall having a doorway therethrough, a door movable from a position filling said doorway to a position where its projection on the wall clears the doorway, the door having a vestibule the interior of which is of suflicient extent to accommodateone person only and having openings at each end, integral closure means for said openings arranged to always 910% at least one of said openings, and

locking means arranged to selectively lock the closure means in any of three positions.

8. A vault having a wallprovided with a vestibule therethrough, the vestibule having a passageway opening on one side of the wall and a passageway opening on the other side of the wall, closure means for said passageway openings and arranged so that it can clear only one opening at a time, and locking means arranged to selectively lock the closure means closing either or both openings.

9. A vault having a wall provided with a vestibule therethrough, the vestibule having a passageway opening on one side of the wall and a passageway opening on the other side of the wall, closure means for said passageway openings and arranged so that it can clear only one opening at a time, and locking means arranged to selectively lock the closure means closing either or both openings, said closure means and locking means being operable from within the vestibule, the space within the vestibule being of sufficient size to admit only one person at a time.

10. A vault having a wall provided with a vestibule therethrough, the vestibule having an opening on one side of the Wall and an opening on the other side of the wall, closure means for said openings and arranged so that it can clear only one opening at a time, locking means arranged to selectively lock the closure means closing either or both openings, and an adjustably supported partition within the vestibule whereby the space within the same may be varied, the closure means and partition defining a space within the vestibule in which a person may stand whereby adjustment of the partition will cause this space to conform to the size of the person intending to use the device.

11. In combination with a Wall having a doorway therethrough, a door hinged to the wall at one side of the doorway, locking means arranged to retain said door across said doorway, a vestibule in said door, closure means associated with said vestibule and operable independently of said door, the interior of the vestibule being of sufiicient extent to accommodate one person only and arranged to be used when the door is locked across said doorway, the door and vestibule being included within a dihedral angle of 90 having its apex at the axis of the hinges.

GLEN R. ELDRED. 

